Phil Fontaine Quotes (24 Quotes)

We're extremely pleased. It's about symbolic recognition of the loss of languages and cultures.

Unfortunately, many First Nations communities still lack the basic infrastructure to connect to the Internet,

decades in time, innumerable events and countless injuries to First Nations individuals and communities.

We can't be treated as secondary. We can't be an after-thought,

We have filed a class action suit because we want to secure a place at the table, ... We want to establish some certainty in the process, that the views of the Assembly of First Nations will be considered as an essential matter in whatever agreement is concluded.

Trust us. We will transform our community.

It is clear to us that we have strengthened our hand considerably and that governments are going to have to invite us to the table to negotiate the kind of changes that we need for our people.

The residential schools were designed to eradicate any sense of Indian-ness. They denied us the opportunity to learn about ourselves.

The government is not in the habit of handing out money.

Any suggestion that one supports the objectives and the targets but not the approximately 5 billion allocated to these targets is of great concern to us because we won't be able to meet the targets without money.

It highlighted the extreme circumstances that many of our communities live in - poor drinking water, poor health care, poor housing, poor schools, no recreational facilities, high unemployment.

It's a wonderful day, ... I know that every moment has been worthwhile. Justice has prevailed.

I know there are pessimists and cynics who think this process will fail. I disagree.

Canada has a Third World in its front yard and back alleys. That is a national tragedy and an international embarrassment.

There are at least 100 First Nations communities that are in a boil-water situation. There are at least 40 of those in Ontario.

The commitments that are made are significant and it's going to be very, very difficult for any government to retreat from those commitments here,

Next year is going to be an extremely busy time for us. It's going to be a huge undertaking.

Our position is that it must be implemented as is. It's a very complex agreement. A lot of detail. Very delicate proposition and any tinkering with the proposed compensation package would cause it to unravel. And that's a view held very clearly by our experts who were involved in the negotiations.

We don't take issue with anything the minister has expressed here today.

The challenge is not to debate whether the right exists or not but how to get full effect of the right,

This is an incredible opportunity for us, and we can't let it slip by.

It needs to be addressed immediately. We can't afford to wait,

We have seen how far we can go in two years, imagine how far we can go in ten years.

All of the targets we've set are achievable, ... We're driving this process and we're forcing government to respond to our plan.